Weld
(Reseda luteola)
Weld
(Reseda luteola)
Weld (Copyright Naturescape.com)
A tall biennial, to around 1.5m high in flower, with lance-shaped, deep green leaves often with strongly wavy edges. Slender spikes of tiny yellow flowers are produced in summer. This plant can be used to produce a yellow dye
Dye colour: Yellow
Dye source: Leaves, Flowers, Seed
Flowering: June - September
Other common names: Base rockets, dyer's rocket, dyer's weld, dyer's yellow weed, wild mignonette, wild woad, yellow weed, dyer's weed, Jerusalem ash, melyn-gu
How to extract the dyes:
Soak the dried flower heads in a pot filled with 4 litres of warm water for 30 minutes.
Heat the dye bath to +70 °C, well below the boiling point.
Adding one tablespoon of washing soda or 0.5-1 dl of wood ash lye can improve the colour extraction and modify the colour from brown to orange.
Steep the flowers for 30 minutes to extract dye.
For more information about the dyeing process:
Natural dyes for education and colour experimentation